Game Over: A highly-qualified American professional fails to find work in Finland and heads home

“Immigrants are a new class of poor in the West"

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By Esa Mäkinen
     
      Ryan Savage is like a dream for immigration officials. He is a well-educated job applicant who moved to Finland to be with his spouse.
      He speaks the most commonly-known language in the world.
      The only trouble is that Savage cannot find work in Finland.
      Helsingin Sanomat reported on Savage’s problems finding work in April 2011 (see linked article).
      Since then, he has continued to look for work - to no avail.
     
Savage sent between 30 and 40 job applications and had five interviews.
      Metso, Outotec, Outokumpu, Cargotec, and the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) all concluded that Savage is not worth hiring.
      English is his mother tongue, but Savage does not speak Finnish.
      “In most places language was the reason why they didn’t hire me”, Savage says.
     
Like Savage, many other immigrants are finding it difficult to get work.
      “Immigrants are a new class of poor in the West", says Dr. Maili Malin, a researcher at the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
      She says that this applies to Europe and the Nordic Countries and especially to families with children.
     
Let’s take a look at the statistics.
      Foreign-born working men earn an average EUR 10,000 a year less than Finns.
      Foreign men earn an average EUR 29,000, while the figure for Finnish men is EUR 39,000.
      Finnish women earn an average annual income of EUR 28,000, while foreign-born women get EUR 22,000.
      The difference is smaller among women who come from OECD countries.
     
Especially Thais, Nigerians, and Filipinos earn less for the same work that is done by Finns.
      Families where languages other than Finnish or Swedish are spoken are poorer: well over half are in the poorest 20 per cent of the population.
      Immigrants also experience violence twice as frequently as native-born Finns.
      In 2008 one in four people in Finland who were killed in a work-related accident were foreigners.
     
According to one study, immigrant men suffer from hearing diseases twice as frequently as Finnish men do.
      It is a familiar notion in Finland that there are real or imagined gaps in well-being and class between Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking Finns.
      Now there are new gaps between the two main languages, and English, and all other languages spoken in the country.
     
Why are immigrants paid less?
      “People come to Finland as adults. It takes about ten years before they learn the language and get training for a profession”, Malin says.
      She adds that immigrants with a high level of education do not have the same kinds of problems.
      Differences in health are often linked with education and income levels, as is the case with all Finns.
      The health of some refugees is affected by poor living conditions in the country of origin.
     
Loneliness is also an important factor weakening health and well-being.
      “People have to rebuild their human relationships here, and it takes time”, Malin says.
      And further: discrimination also affects the health of many immigrants.
      “It weakens well-being and health slowly, but surely.”
     
Ryan Savage decided he'd had enough in December.
      His wallet was empty and he did not want to live endlessly on his wife’s income.
      Savage returned to the United States to look for temporary work.
      At the end of December he had his third and last round of interviews for a job with a big advertising agency.
      “And I’ve only been here a week”, Savage says.
      “Nevertheless, I am constantly looking for a job in Finland. I would like to find one.”
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 15.1.2012


Previously in HS International Edition:
  No work for a dream immigrant? (27.4.2011)

ESA MÄKINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
esa.makinen@hs.fi